The Dow and S&P 500 closed out their sixth week of losses on Friday as further signs of a global economic slowdown set the stage for more losses to come.

Based on the latest available data, the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> fell 172.45 points, or 1.42 percent, to end unofficially at 11,951.91. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> lost 18.02 points, or 1.40 percent, to finish unofficially at 1,270.98. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> dropped 41.14 points, or 1.53 percent, to close unofficially at 2,643.73.

The Nasdaq ended in negative territory for the year, while the Dow closed below 12,000 for the first time since mid-March.

For the week, the Dow is down 1.6 percent, the S&P 500 is down 2.2 percent and the Nasdaq is down 3.3 percent, the worst weeks for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq since August 2010.

(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Jan Paschal)

Down